Pile-driver-hammer suspension.



E. BI ROGERS. PILE DRIVER HAMMER SUSPENSION. APPLICATION FILED JULY 2]. 1916.

1,222,891 a Patented Apr. 17, 1917/.

F am 7 M 8- 2b 2 w D Qi? '1 f D J? O ZZ 23 INVENTOH WITNESSES EF WW Bo gyms I 0 W T I Am I: ATTORNEY PATENT ERNEST B. ROGERS, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

FILE-DRIVER-HAMMER SUSPENSION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. it, 191*? Application filed July 27, 1916. Serial No. 111,707.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that T, ltnnnsr B. Rooms, a citizen of the United States, residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Pile-Driver-Hammer Suspensions, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in pile-driver hammer suspensions and is more particularly contained in an attachment which may be fitted to and connected with the hammer to permit the attachment of a cable or line by which the hammer is suspended; the attachment being constructed to be and in the nature of a shock absorber.

In the use of pile-drivers, the engineer will often times make a miscalculation as to the length of line which should be permitted to run for a blow on a pile head and it the hammer is caught before it has struck the blow, it will not only cause a tremendous pulling strain on the line but also will cause undue shock on the entire structure, and it is also noticeable in marine use while there are swells that it is particularly difficult to properly gage the length of line which should be permitted to run for eachsuccessive blow; when the engineer is aware of this fact, he will let out such necessary length of line that this will cause slow operation of the ma chine, and to aid in relieving the shock, it

has been found that it is advantageous to use a hemp or other line constructed of a fibrous or other material having a certain degree of elasticity rather than a metal cable which would not give cushion action.

With these points well in mind, it is an object of my invention to provide means which may be constructed as a part of a piledriver hammer or be attached to such hammers as are now already in use, and which provides a suspension arranged in such a manner that the hammer structure is permitted to have a certain degree flexible movement with respect to the suspension therefor and thus even though the line may be snubbed too short, the weighted portion of the hammer will continue on in its move ment to strike the blow against the pile and also when the hammer is being raised the sudden strain upon the line and the hoisting mechanism due to the inertia of the hammer will in a great measure be relieved.

It is a further object of this inventionto so construct the mounting for this mechhammer.

anism that undue twisting of the hannner upon its guide is not caused in either the dropping or raising movement.

With the above and other objects in view,- my invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combination of parts which will be hereinafter set forth in connection with the drawings and then more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a pile-driver hammer with the device of my invention fitted thereto and with parts broken away.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken. on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 83 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a view taken on the line t t of Fig. 3 looking in the direction indicated by the arrow.

The hammer 1 which may be of any desired and approved construction is in the present instance shown as having the driving head 2 on the lower end thereof and the body portion of this hammer comprises a web which is provided with side portions 3 and 4t having the guide slots 5 and 6 formed therein to receive the rails 7 and 8 of the guideways in which the hammer has movement.

The attachment consists of the two shells or casings 9 and 10 which are provided with flanges 11 having openings 12 therethrough, and the bolts 13 may be passed through the openings 12 and through the web of the ham mer l to mount the shells or casings 9 and 10 in the relation better shown in Figs. 2 and 3 where they are substantially centrally disposed on opposite sides of the Web of the The shells or casings 9 and 10 have the ends thereof made closed and the upper ends ot the shells have the notched openings 14 and 15 provided therethrough, two of these notch openings being provided in each of the shell mountings.

A suspension loop 16 has the rods l7, 18, 19 and 20 formed in branched relation there from and extended to be substantially parallel, the rods 17 and 18 being disposed at one end of the loop 16 and the rods 19 and 20 at the remaining end of this loop. The loop 16 is made of sutlicient width that the two pairs of rods are spaced apart to fit over the web of the hammer 1 and these rods are received in the notched openings 14 and 15 of the shells 9 and 10. Coiled springs 21 are fitted rer each of the rods 17, 18, 19 and 20, on the free ends thereof and the bearing washers 22 are fitted over the ends of these rods to be held in place by the tension nuts 23 which are mounted on the screw threaded ends of these rods. As has been stat-ed, the rods are properly positioned to be received in the notched openings 14 and 15 and then when the shell members 9 and 10 are connected on the web of the hammer, the upper ends of the coil springs 21 will bear against the tops of the shells or casings and the lower ends of the springs will bear against the washers 22, the tension nuts 23 being adjustable along the length of the rod to se cure the desired compression of the springs for the particular condition of operative use.

fhe cable or line 2 1- is secured at the free end in the suspension loop 16, and then through suitable mechanism (not shown), this cable can be shortened and lengthened to permit lifting and driving movement of the hammer under the guidance of the guideways.

In the use of a pile-driver having the device of my invention fitted to the hammer, should the cable or line 2 be snubbed too quickly, and before the head 2 of the hammer has directed the driving impact against the head of a pile, the springs 21 will be compressed by the weight of the hammer and the hammer will continue in its movement to drive against the pile. and further as the cable at is tightened to raise the nanr mer for the next successivc driving blow, a somewhat sharp strain will be placed upon the cable or line and upon the winding mechanism by reason of the fact that the hammer is in a position of rest and must be raised against the inertia of its own dead weight, and under these circumstances the springs 21 will be compressed to permit the cables 24' to have slight drawing action before the driving head 1 is started, and then the rebound action of the springs will tend to aid in serving the inertia of the head so that the weight thereof may be raised without undue strain on the parts of the spring mechanism.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a device which may be constructed as a part of the driving head of a pile-driver or may be applied to driving hammers as used on pile-drivers which have already been placed in use, and that the attachment is so constructed that a wire or other cable not having inherent flexibility Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

or elasticity may be used and also that with the use of this attachment the strain upon the operating parts of the mechanism is ver Y materially reduced, and while I have herein shown and described only one specific form of the device, it will be understood that a number of variations and modifications in the form and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, and hence I do not wish to be limited except to such points as may be set forth in the claims.

I claim:

1. A suspension for pile-driver hammers comprising casing carried by the hammer, cushion means carried in said casings, and a suspension loop connected with said cushions to have the operation line attached thereto and thus cushion shocks incident to the operation of the hammer.

2. A suspension for pile-driver hammers comprising casings to be connected with the hammer, a suspension loop having rods connected therewith and extended into said casings, and cushion means carried by said rods to bear within the casings.

3. A suspension for pile-driver hammers comprising casings to be connected with the hammer, a suspension loop having rods connected therewith and extended into said casings, coiled springs mounted around said rod, and bearing washers mounted on the ends of the rods to confine the coil springs between the same and the heads of the easings to cushion the action of the hammer.

4. A suspension for pile-driver hammers comprising a pair of casings to be connected with the hammer on opposite sides of the web thereof, said casings provided with notched openings through the top thereof, a suspension loop to have a line or cable connected therewith, rods branched from said suspension loop in such arangement that they are received through the notched openings of the casings, coiled springs mounted around said rod to hear at one end against the heads of the casings, and tension nuts connected on the free ends of the rods to bearagainst the remaining ends of the coil spring and to permit adjustment of the tension thereof. 4

In testimony whereof I aliix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ERNEST B. ROGERS.

Witnesses:

E. B. DE CAMPE, JOHN B. METCALF.

We. shingtou, D. G. 

